Larry's Blog Pages

January 28, 2010

Look Out - Fat (me) Triathlete coming through....

My co-workers are having a "Biggest Loser" contest and they are going by Body Fat % loss as the main factor. I didn't think I needed another competition at this time so I stayed out but I did an initial weigh in just for Sh%&s and giggles.

To my surprise my Body Fat % is at the very high end of the healthy range of things for the 31 to 50 age group. How can this be? Obviously, the folks putting this guidleline in place are leading people to very unhealthy ideals.

If a 35 year old guy that does pretty well in his AG at races, trains 15 to 20 hours a week (at pretty high intensity) and eats a lot better than most of the population is just barely meeting the body fat target what does this mean?

Check out the charts-
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/bodyfatpercentage.html

Also, if you look up the male triathlete range, I am way above the 5% to 12% bar so I guess all the triathletes they measured were pros cause I happily see all shapes and sizes out there at our local events.

Even on the Health Canada site, my Body Mass Index is only a fraction of a number off being overweight?

I think it is time they re-viewed these numbers and made them a little more realistic before they drive people to very unhealthy lifestyles.

5 comments:

Syd Trefiak said...

HAH. You fell for the standard athlete BMI issue! A lot of measuring devices, scales, misinterperet athletes and give them a higher % than they actually are. The only way to know for sure is to get tested by a professional using high end testing equipment.

We have a scale that says the same thing for me. Don't worry about it!

Jason said...

I never trust those things, I was rated obese as well by my BF scale (even at race weight) and the BMI index is just not correct.

LARRY BRADLEY said...

Thanks guys! Yeah, just very confused as to how they came up with the classifications in both those measures. Do they not see how unrealistic the standards are and how they may lead people to eating disorders or burn out/injuries (over excercise) to get to the "healthy" zone?

Syd Trefiak said...

How were you measured?

LARRY BRADLEY said...

I only did the weight scale body fat % calculator based on the electrical signal that it send through the body. I guess it can tell by the strength of the return signal how much fat is on your body. I cannot see this being too accurate but more of a baseline. I just jumped on for the hell of it so I am not overly concerned, for me. It is the others that look at their number and match it with the standards set out by Health Canada and get all depressed as the standards for the average male or female are unrealistic. They see that my reading was only at the top end of the scale and know how much training I put in. A bunch of them immediatedly questioned how in the world they could ever get to that perceived "healthy" category as there is no way they have the time or the drive to excercise enough to get to those body fat percentages.